The meal: “I recently lost my mother, and she used to always make smothered okra for me. That’s my favorite dish. I haven’t gotten to the point that I’m cooking it for myself, so the next best thing is the smothered okra at Sassafras. It’s a little neighborhood restaurant on Leon C. Simon. They do it with sausage and shrimp and a little tomato, and they put it over rice. I don’t eat the rice; I could just eat the okra. They also have one of the best file gumbos in the city. I love the file gumbo at Sassafras and the one at Little Dizzy’s.

Wendell PierceMatthew Hinton/The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com

“My other new discovery is the Morning Call in City Park. I went to the Po-boy Festival and picked up some po-boys to-go for my dad and I, and then we went to City Park to dine al fresco. When we were at the park, I had the pleasant surprise to see there’s a new Morning Call, and they’re going to be open 24 hours. I love the idea of taking a drive to City Park at night and eating beignets in the wee hours of the morning.”